When you set out to build a website, you obviously focus on things like the content, the ease of use and user experience as well as the look of your homepage. All honorable mentions and whilst very important, they will have considerably less influence on unique, organic traffic when compared to your sites authority.

Authority sites are those which are considered to be trusty worthy and experts on a specific topic. They are not always the top results in the search engine listings but are usually found above everything relating to the same topic, purely through the collective knowledge of its users as opposed to ‘black-hat’ SEO such as keyword stuffing etc.

How is an authorititive site defined?

When quantifying the authority of a domain, there are a few different metrics to consider. Here's our top factors to consider:

Social Imprint

Nowadays, there are also Social signals to consider. Although having 10,000 likes or followers may look good - it is not necessarily an indication that the site has a high authority since it is not a guarantee of genuine, human fans. Engagement is key to working out if a website has authority. If a website is being shared, liked and commented on by real people, it’s a good indication that it is deemed as being trust worthy (this will boost your authority).

Quality Links

It also helps to have a quality links from other websites, from a variety of other, established, reputable websites. This again signifies to the search engine that you are a trustworthy and well valued site. Again, keep in mind the quality and relevancy for any link (and content linked to you), rather than how many backlinks any particular website has.

Domain Age

The age of a domain is also important, although this is technically not something you can control too much. If a website is fairly new and is being indexed by the search engine crawlers as well as being viewed by visitors, they don’t know for certain whether the website is there to stay for the long-term or if it has been set up as a ‘quick-fix’ for the short-term gain.

Originality

The aim should be to try and offer something unique which visitors can’t get elsewhere, such as a well-researched study or news story backed up with relevant data. Something that is creative, fun or interactive is also recommended in addition to having an expert opinion, unique angle or following up on a topical news story.

Consider your audience

Keep in mind who the target audience is in terms of age, demographics, familiarity with brand and what writing style or tone will appeal to them.

The most important aspects of creating an authority site are to understand who the audience are and provide them with solutions on a regular basis through content being created and published on the authority site. Allowing time to build website authority is important as this is not something which can be done overnight.